
Proc^ecJcn^ of tke r\mcr[cein 
cunt/- slavery Conv^TitioTl, 355em- 

V>led atThilade\phia,TiccJ833. 



ubrSyofcongress 




00Q13a215t.E 



I 




ore £4^1 



PROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION, 



ASSEMBLED AT PHILADELPHIA, 



DECEMBER 4, 5, AND 6, 1833. 



NEW-YORK: 

PRINTED BY DORR & BUTTERFIELD, 

NO. 70 FULTON-STREET. 

1833. 



/,<0^ 






\\ 






ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION 



A meeting of Delegates from Anti-Slavery Societies, and 
other friends of Emancipation, convened at the Adelphi Buildings, 
in the city of Philadelphia, on the fourth day of December, Anno 
Domini, 1833, at 10 o'clock, A. M., for the purpose of forming a 
National Anti-Slavery Society, pursuant to an invitation from the 
New- York City Anti-Slavery Society. 

The meeting was opened with prayer to Almighty God. 

Messrs. Sterling, Cox, and May, were appointed a Committee 
to nominate Officers for the Convention. Their Report was 
accepted. 

President. 
BERIAH GREEN, State of New York. 
' Secretaries. 
Lewis Tappan, New- York, and John G. Whittier, Massachu. 

setts. 

Messrs. Buffum, W. Green, Jr., and Lewis, were appointed a 
Committee to examine the credentials of Delegates, and also a 
Committee of Arrangements. 

On motion of Samuel Joseph May, it was 

Resolved, That all Delegates from Anti-Slavery Societies, and all per- 
sons present who agree in principle with them on the subject of the imme- 
diate emancipation of slaves, without expatriation, be entitled to seats in 
this Convention. 



ROLL OF THE CONVENTION. 
From the State of Maine. 
David Thurston, of Winthrop ; Joseph South wick, of Augusta ; 
Nathan Winslow, James Frederic Otis, and Isaac Winslow, of 
Portland, 

From New Hampshire. 
David Cambell, of Windham. 

From Vermont. 
Orson S. Murray, of Orwell. 

From Massachusetts. 
William Lloyd Garrison, Joshua Coffin, Amos A. Phelps, 
James G. Barbadoes, Nathaniel Southard, and Arnold BufFum, 
of Boston ; Effingham L. Capron, of Uxbridge ; John G. Whit- 
tier, of Haverhill ; Horace P. Wakefield, of Reading ; David T. 
Kimball, Jr. of Ipswich ; Daniel E. Jewett, of Andover ; John R. 
Cambell, of Charlestown. 

From Rhode Island. 

Ray Potter, of Pawiucket ; John Prentice and George W. Ben- 
son, of Providence. 

From Connecticut. 
Samuel J. May, of Brooklyn ; Alpheus Kingsley, of Norwich ; 
Edwin A. Stillman, of Middletown ; Simeon S. Jocelyn and Rob- 
ert B. Hall, of New Haven. 

From New York. 

Lewis Tappan, John Rankin, William Green, Jr., Abraham L. 
Cox, William Goodell, Elizur Wright, Jr., and Charles W. Den- 
ison, of New- York city ; Beriah Green and John Frost, of Whites-. 
boro\ 

From New Jersey. 

James White and Jonathan Parkhurst, of Essex Co. ; and 
Chalkley Gillingham. 

From Pennsylvania. 

Evan Lewis, Edwin P. Atlee, Robert Purvis, David Jones, 

James McC Crummell, Edwin A. Atlee, Thomas Shipley, Lucas 

Gillingham, John R. Sleeper, Peter Wright, John Sharp, Jr., and 

Isaac Barton, of Philadelphia ; Enoch Mack, of Wiikesbarre ; 



William H. Johnson, of Buckingham ; Thomas Whitson, Bar- 
tholomew Fussell, Aaron Vickers, John McCullough, Sumner 
Stebbins, and Edwin Fussell, of Chester Co. ; James Loughhead, 
of Pittsburgh ; James M. McKinn, of Carlisle. 

From Ohio. 
John M. Sterling, of Cleveland ; Milton Sutliff, of Hudson ; 
and Levi Sutliff, of Vernon. 

On motion of R. B. Hall, it was 

Resolved, That in the opinion of the Convention, it is expedient to form, 
forthwith, a National Anti-Slavery Society. 

Resolved, That Messrs. Thurston, Garrison, W. Green, Jr., Lewis and 
Phelps, be a Committee to prepare a draught of a Constitution for a National 
Anti-Slavery Society. 

Resolved, That Messrs. May, Capron, Rankin, Mack, Purvis, and 
Jocelyn, be a Committee to nominate a list of Officers for the proposed 
National Society. 

While the above Committees were absent E. Wright, Jun. was 
requested to read letters received from individuals residing in dif- 
ferent parts of the United States, who had been invited to attend 
the Convention, and were not present. He accordingly read let- 
ters from a large number of respectable gentlemen, all of whom, 
with one exception, expressed their cordial approbation of the 
meeting of the Convention for the purposes stated. 

D. Thurston, Chairman of Committee on preparing a draught 
of a Constitution, made a report. The same was read, discussed, 
and after several amendments, adopted as follows : 

Whereas the Most High God " hath made of one blood all 
nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth," and hath 
commanded them to love their neighbours as themselves ; and 
whereas our National Existence is based upon this principle, as 
recognized in the Declaration of Independence, "that all mankind 
are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness;" and whereas, after the lapse of nearly 
sixty years, since the faith and honor of the American people 
were pledged to this avowal, before Almighty God, and the world, 



nearly one sixth part of the nation are held in bondage by their 
fellow-citizens ; — and whereas slavery is contrary to the princi- 
ples of natural justice, of our republican form of government, 
and of the Christian religion, and is destructive of the prosperity 
of the country, while it is endangering the peace, union, and lib- 
erties of the States ; and whereas we believe it the duty and in- 
terest of the masters, immediately to emancipate their slaves, and 
that no scheme of expatriation, either voluntary or by compulsion, 
can remove this great and increasing evil ; and whereas we be- 
lieve that it is practicable, by appeals to the consciences, hearts, 
and interests of the people, to awaken a public sentiment through- 
out the nation that will be opposed to the continuance of slavery 
in any part of the republic, and by effecting the speedy abolition 
of slavery, prevent a general convulsion ; and whereas we be- 
lieve we owe it to the oppressed, to our fellow-citizens who hold 
slaves, to our whole country, to posterity, and to God, to do all 
that is lawfully in our power to bring about the extinction of 
slavery, we do hereby agree, with a prayerful reliance on the 
Divine aid, to form ourselves into a Society, to be governed by 
the following 

CONSTITUTION. 



ARTICLE I. 

This Society shall be called the American Anti-Slavery 
Society. 

ARTICLE II. 

The objects of this Society are the entire abolition of slavery 
in the United States. While it admits that each State, in which 
Slavery exists, has, by the Constitution of the United States, the 
exclusive right to legislate in regard to its abolition in said State, it 
shall aim to convince all our fellow-citizens, by arguments ad- 
dressed to their understandings and consciences, that slave hold- 
ing is a heinous crime in the sight of God, and that the duty, 
safety, and best interests of all concerned, require its immediate 
abandonment, without expatriation. The Society will also en- 
deavour, in a constitutional way, to influence Congress to put an 



end to the domestic slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all those 
portions of our common country, which come under its control, 
especially in the District of Columbia, — and likewise to prevent 
the extension of it to any State that may be hereafter admitted to 
the Union. 

ARTICLE III. 

This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition 
of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral 
and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, 
that thus they may, according to their intellectual and mo- 
ral worth, share an equality with the whites, of civil and reli- 
gious privileges ; but this Society will never, in any way, coun- 
tenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by resorting to 
physical force. 

ARTICLE IV. 
Any person who consents to the principles of this Constitution, 
who contributes to the funds of this Society, and is not a slave 
holder, may be a member of this Society, and shall be entitled to 
vote at the meetings. 

ARTICLE V. 
The officers of this Society shall be a President, Vice Presi- 
dents, a Secretary of Foreign Correspondence, a Secretary of 
Domestic Correspondence, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, 
and a Board of Managers, composed of the above, and not less 
than ten other members of the Society. They shall be annually 
elected by the members of the Society, and five shall constitute a 
quorum. 

ARTICLE VI. 

The Board of Managers shall annually elect an Executive 
Committee, to consist of not less than five, nor more than nine, 
members, which shall be located in New- York, who shall have 
power to enact their own by-laws, fill any vacancy in their 
body, employ agents, determine what compensation shall be paid 
to agents, and to the Corresponding Secretaries, direct the 
Treasurer in the application of all moneys, and call special meet- 
ings of the Society. They shall make arrangements for all 
meetings of the Society, make an annual written report of their 



8 

doings, the income, expenditures, and funds of the Society, and 
shall hold stated meetings, and adopt the most energetic measures 
in their power, to advance the objects of the Society. 

ARTICLE VII. 

The President shall preside at all meetings of the Society, or 
in his absence one of the Vice Presidents, or, in their absence, a 
President pro tern. The Corresponding Secretaries shall conduct 
the correspondence of the Society. The Recording Secretary 
shall notify all meetings of the Society, and of the Executive 
Committee, and shall keep records of the same in separate books. 
The Treasurer shall collect the subscriptions, make payments at 
the direction of the Executive Committee, and present a written 
and audited account to accompany the annual report. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

The annual meeting of the Society shall be held each year at 
such time and place as the Executive Committee may direct, 
when the accounts of the Treasurer shall be presented, the an- 
nual report read, appropriate addresses delivered, the Officers 
chosen, and such other business transacted as shall be deemed ex- 
pedient. A special meeting shall always be held on the Tues- 
day immediately preceding the second Thursday in May, in the 
City of New- York, at 10 o'clock, A. M., provided the annual 
meeting be not held there at that time. 

ARTICLE IX. 

Any Anti-Slavery Society, or association, founded on the same 
principles, may become auxiliary to this Society. The officers 
of each Auxiliary Society shall be ex-officio members of the Pa- 
rent Institution, and shall be entitled to deliberate and vote in the 
transaction of its concerns. 

ARTICLE X. 

This Constitution may be amended, at any annual meeting of 
the Society, by a vote of two thirds of the members present, pro- 
vided the amendments proposed, have been previously submitted, 
in writing, to the Executive Committee. 



9 

S. J. May, Chairman of Committee on nominating a list of 
Officers, made the following report, which was unanimously 

accepted : — 

President, 
ARTHUR TAPPAN, of New York. 
Vice Presidents, 
Moses Brown, of Rhode Island ; Samuel Fessenden, Samuel 
F. Hussey, Ebenezer Dole, and Joseph Southwick, of Maine ; 
Nathan Lord, and Calvin Cutter, of New- Hampshire ; Matthew 
W. Birchman, of Vermont; Asa Rand, E. M. P. Wells, and 
Effingham L. Capron, of Massachusetts ; Eleazer T. Fitch, Eh 
Ives, Samuel J. May, Simeon S. Jocelyn and Gustavus S. Davis, 
of Connecticut; Beriah Green, D. C. Lansing, John Rankin, and 
J. R. Wilson, of New-York; Robert Bruce, William Jackson, 
Edwin A. Atlee, and Evan Lewis, of Pennsylvania ; Benjamin 
Ferris, of Delaware ; and Erotas P. Hastings, of Detroit, Michi- 
gan Territory. 

Secretary of Domestic Correspondence, 
Elizur Wright, Jr. of New- York. 

Secretary of Foreign Correspondence, 
William Lloyd Garrison, of Massachusetts. 

Recording Secretary, 
Abraham L. Cox, of New- York. 

Treasurer, 
William Green, Jr. of New- York. 

MANAGERS. 
State of Maine. 

David Thurston, Winthrop ; Calvin Newton, Waterville ; 
George Shepherd, Hallowell; Richard H. Vose, Augusta ; Patrick 

Henry Greenleaf, Portland ; and , President 

of the Bowdoin College Anti-Slavery Society. 

New Hampshire. 
George W. Ward, Plymouth; James Wilson, Keene ; and 
Amos Cambell, Acworth. 

Vermont. 
Augustine Clark, Danville; Elisha Bascom, Shoreham ; 

2 



10 

William Arthur, Hinesburgh ; Butler, Waterbury ; 

Orson S. Murray, Orwell. 

Massachusetts. 
Amos A. Phelps, Ellis Gray Loring, David L. Child, Samuel 
E. Sewall, James G. Barbadoes, Arnold Buffum, and Isaac 
Knapp, Boston ; Moses Thatcher, North Wrentham ; John G. 
Whittier, Haverhill; Jacob Ide, Medway ; Daniel S. Southmayd, 
Lowell; John M. S. Perry, Mendon ; Philemon R. Russell, 
West Boylston ; Le Roy Sunderland, Andover ; David T. Kim- 

ball, Jr. Ipswich ; and President of the Amherst 

College Anti-Slavery Society. 

Rhode Island. 
Josiah Cady, Henry Cushing, John Prentice, Thomas Williams, 
and George W. Benson, Providence '; and Ray Potter, Pcuotucket. 

Connecticut. 

George Benson, Brooklyn ; Alpheus Kingsley, James T. Dick- 
inson, Norwich ; and S. P. Dole, Middletown. 

New-York. 

Joshua Leavitt, William Goodell, Lewis Tappan, George 
Bourne, Charles W. Denison, Isaac M. Dimond, and Peter Wil- 
liams, New- York City ; Samuel N. Sweet, Adams ; Stephen P. 
Hines, Sandy Hill; and William Allen, Buffalo. 

New Jersey. 
James White and James Parkhurst, Essex Co. 

Pennsylvania. 

Edwin P. Atlee, Thomas Shipley, Robert Purvis, and James 
McC. Crummill, Philadelphia ; Samuel Williams, John B. Vashon, 
Pittsburgh; Bartholomew Fussell, Bennett; Enoch Mack, Wilkes. 
barre ; Thomas Whitson, and Abraham D. Shad, Chester Co. ; 
Linley Coats, Lancaster Co. ; and Job F. Halsey, Allegany 
Town, 

Ohio. 

O. K. Hawley and Henry Cowles, Austinburgh ; Theodore D. 
Weld, Lane Seminary, Cincinnati; John M. Sterling, Cleve- 
land; Woolsey Wells, Akron ; H. C. Ho wells, Zanesville; John 
M. Monteith, Elyria ; and King, Warren. 



11 

On motion, it was 

Resolved, That Messrs. Atlee, Wright, Garrison, Jocelyn, Thurston, Ster- 
ling, W. Green, Jr. Whittier, and Goodell, be a committee to draught a 
Declaration of the principles of the American Anti-Slavery Society, for 
publication, to which the signatures of the members of this Convention shall 
be affixed. 

Adjourned at 5 o'clock, P. M. 

December 5, 1833.— The Convention met agreeably to adjourn- 
ment at 9 o'clock, A. M. 

After Prayer, the minutes of yesterday were read and ap- 
proved. 

On motion, it was 

Resolved, That measures be taken to ascertain how many preachers in the 
United States are slaveholders. [A committee was accordingly chosen.] 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention those editors who have 
embarked in the cause of immediate emancipation, and plead for the rights 
of the colored race, are deserving of our hearty thanks ; and that we will 
use our individual and collective influence to sustain and aid them in this 
good work, by extending the circulation, and increasing the subscriptions of 
their respective papers, and by such other means as may be proper. 
[This Resolution produced an interesting discussion.] 

On motion, the following Resolution passed by an unanimous 

vote : 

Whereas, the self-denying and untiring exertions of William 
Lloyd Garrison, in the holy cause of abolition, justly entitle him 
to the grateful respect and affectionate esteem of all the friends of 
immediate and unconditional emancipation, and particularly of this 
Convention — therefore 

Resolved, That Messrs. Hall, Denison and May be a committee to pre- 
sent to William Lloyd Garrison the respect and esteem of the members of 
this Convention for his devotedness to the cause of the immediate and un- 
conditional emancipation of the slaves in this country. 

On motion, it was 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention the early, disinterested, 
and persevering labors of Benjamin Lundy, in the cause of Emancipation, 
deserve the lively gratitude of this Convention, and of the friends of hu- 
man rights throughout the world. 



12 

Resolved, That Messrs. Hall, Denison, and May, be a committee to pre- 
sent the above Resolution to Benjamin Lundy. 

Edwin P. Atlee, Chairman of a Committee on drafting a De- 
claration of the principles of the American Anti-Slavery Society,- 
made a Report, which was twice read, fully discussed, and after 
several slight amendments, unanimously adopted as follows : 



DECLARATION 

OF THE 

ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION, 

ASSEMBLED IN PHILADELPHIA, DEC. 4, 1833. 



The Convention, assembled in the city of Philadelphia to organ- 
ize a National Anti-Slavery Society, promptly seize the opportu- 
nity to promulgate the following DECLARATION OF SEN- 
TIMENTS, as cherished by them in relation to the enslavement 
of one-sixth portion of the American people. 

More than fifty-seven years have elapsed since a band of pa- 
triots convened in this place, to devise measures for the deliver- 
ance of this country from a foreign yoke. The corner-stone 
upon which they founded the Temple of Freedom was broadly 
this — " that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these 
are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness." At the 
sound of their trumpet-call, three millions of people rose up as 
from the sleep of death, and rushed to the strife of blood ; deem- 
ing it more glorious to die instantly as freemen, than desirable to 
live one hour as slaves. They were few in number — poor in re- 
sources ; but the honest conviction that Truth, Justice, and 
Right were on their side, made them invincible. 

We have met together for the achievement of an enterprise, 
without which, that of our fathers is incomplete ; and which, for 
its magnitude, solemnity, and probable results upon the destiny of 
the world, as far transcends theirs, as moral truth does physical 
force. 

In purity of motive, in earnestness of zeal, in decision of pur- 
pose, in intrepidity of action, in stedfastness of faith, in sincerity 
of spirit, we would not be inferior to them. 

Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors, 



13 



and to spill human -blood' like water, in order to be .free. Ours 
forbid the doing of eviL that good- may come, and lead us to -reject, 
and to entreat- the oppressed to reject, the. use of all' carnal, weap- 
ons for deliverance from h&n.d'age ; relying solely upon 'those 
which are spiritual, and mighty through God to the pulling do'wri-* 
of strong holds. m . \ ' 

Their measures were physical resistance— the marshalling in .-' 
arms — the -hostile array — the mortjal encounter: . Ours* sha'H \ye 
such only as the opposition of moral purity .to moral, corruption — . 
the destruction of error' by -the potency of truth-s—.tbe,- overthrow 
of .prejudice by the power of love— ^and the abolitiph of slavery, 
.by the spirit of repentance. * ' ' •' . • ■.•• ...'*'• 

i. Their grievances, great efe they, were; • were trifling. In com, . 
parison with the wrorigs* and sufferings of tho.se for. whom we 
plead. Our fathers were never -slaves — : neyer .boufght and 'sold'', 
like cattle — never shut out from the. light *of knowledge and reli- • 
gion — never subjected to. the lash", of 'brutal task-masters. -*■ .. 

But those, for whose "emancipation we are striving^— cpristil" : ' 
tuting at the 'present tinie 'at - least one-sixth part of our country- 
men, — are recognized by the law,* and treated by their fellow- ' 
beings, as marketable commodities— ^-as goods and chattels — as 
brute beasts ; are plundered daily of the fruits of their toil with-* • 
out redress ; really enjoying no constitutional nor legal protec- * 
tion from licentious and murderous outrages upon their persons ; 
are ruthlessly torn asunder — the tender babe from the arms of . 
its frantic mother— ; the heart-broken wife from her weeping htrs- 
band — at the caprice or pleasure of irresponsibly , tyrants. . Por . 
the'crime of having a dark complexion, fhey suffer the pangs of * 
hunger, the infliction of stripes, and the ignominy of brutal servi- 
tude. They are kept in heathenish darkness by laws expressly 
enacted to make their instruction a, criminal offence. 

These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more 
than two millions of our people, the proof of which may be found 
in thousands of indisputable facts, and in the laws of the slave- 
holding States. 

Hence we maintain — That in view of the civil and religious 
privileges of this nation, the guilt of its oppression is unequalled 
by any other on the face of the earth ; and, therefore, 

That it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy burden, 
to break every yoke, and to let the oppressed go free. 

We further maintain — That no man has a right to enslave or 
imbrute his brother — to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, 
as a piece of merchandize — to keep back his hire by fraud— or 
to brutalize his mind by denying him the means of intellectual, 
social, and moral improvement. 

The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it, is to 
usurp the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his 



14 

own body — to the products of his own labor — to the protection 
of law — and to the common advantages of society. It is piracy 
to- buy or steal a native" African, and subject him to servitude. 
Surely the sin is as great to enslave an American as an African. 

Therefore we believe and affirm — That there is no difference, 
in principle, between the African slave trade and American sla- 
very ; 

That every American citizen, who retains a human being in 
involuntary bondage as his property, is [according to Scripture*] 

a MAN-STEALER ; 

That the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought un- 
der the protection of law ; , 

That if they had lived from the time of Pharaoh down to the 
present period, and had been entailed through successive genera- 
tions, their right to. be free could never have been alienated, but 
their claims would have constantly risen in solemnity ; 

That all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right 
of slavery, are therefore before God utterly null and void ; being 
an audacious usurpation of the Divine prerogative, a daring in- 
fringement on the law of Nature, a base overthrow of the very 
foundations of the social compact, a complete extinction of all the 
relations, endearments, and obligations of mankind, and a pre- 
sumptuous transgression of all the holy commandments — and that 
therefore they ought to be instantly abrogated. 

We further believe and affirm — That all persons of color who 
possess the qualifications which are demanded of others, ought to 
be admitted forthwith to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and 
the exercise of the same, prerogatives, as others; and that the 
paths of preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence, should be 
opened as widely to them as to persons of a white complexion. 

We maintain that no compensation should be given to the plant- 
ers emancipating their slaves — 

Because it would be a surrender of the great fundamental prin- 
ciple, that man cannot hold property in man ; 

Because Slavery is a crime, and therefore it is not an 

ARTICLE TO BE SOLD J 

Because the holders of slaves are not the just proprietors of 
what they claim ; freeing the slaves is not depriving them of pro- 
perty, but restoring it to its right owners ; it is not wronging the 
master, but righting the slave — restoring him to himself; 

Because immediate and general emancipation would only de- 
stroy nominal, not real properly : it would not amputate a limb 
or break a bone of the slaves, but by infusing motives into their 
breasts would make them doubly valuable to the masters as free 
laborers : and 

Because if compensation is to be given at all, it should be given 

* Exod. xxi. 16 ; Deut. xxiv. 7. 



15 

to the outraged and guiltless slaves, and not to those who have 
plundered and abused them. 

We regard, as delusive, cruel, and dangerous, any scheme of 
expatriation which pretends to aid, either directly or indirectly, in 
the emancipation of the slaves, oT- to be a substitute for the imme- 
diate and total abolition of slavery. # 

We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of each 
State, to legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery which is 
tolerated within its limits ; we concede that Congress, under the 
present national compact, has no right to interfere with any of the 
slave States, in relation to this momentous subject. , 

But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly 
bound, to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several 
States, and to abolish slavery in those portions of our territory 
which the Constitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction. 

We also maintain that there are, at the present time, the high- 
est obligations resting upon the people of the free States, jto re- 
move slavery by moral and political action, as prescribed in the 
Constitution of the United States. They are now living under a 
pledge of their tremendous pttysical force to fasten the galling 
fetters of tyranny upon the limbs Of millions in the Southern 
States ; they are liable to be called at any moment to suppress 
a general insurrection of the slaves : they authorize the steive 
owner to vote for three fifths of his slaves as. property, and thus 
enable him to perpetuate his oppression ; they'support a standing 
army at the south for its protection ; and they seize the slave, who 
has escaped into their territories, and send him back to be Jor- 
tured by an enraged master or a brutal driver. This relation to 
slavery is criminal and full of danger : it must be broken up. 

These are our views and principles — these, our designs and mea- 
sures. With entire confidence in the over-ruling justice of God, 
we plant ourselves upon the Declaration of our Independence, and 
the truths of Divine Revelation, as upon the everlasting rock. 

We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in every 
city, town, and village in our land. 

We shall send forth Agents to lift up the voice of remonstrance, 
of warning, of entreaty and rebuke. 

We shall circulate, unsparingly and extensively, anti-slavery 
tracts and periodicals. 

We shall enlist the pulpit and the press in the cause of the 
sutiering and the dumb. 

We shall aim at a purification of the churches from all partici- 
pation in the guilt of slavery. 

We shall encourage the labor of freemen rather than that of 
the slaves, by giving a preference to their productions : and 

We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole 
nation to speedy repentance. 



16 

Our trust for victory is solely in GOD. We may be person- 
ally defeated, but our principles never. Truth, Justice, Rea- 
son, Humanity, must and will gloriously triumph. Already a 
host is coming up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, and 
the prospect before us is full of encouragement. 

Submitting this DECLARATION to the candid examination 
of the. people of this country, and of the friends of liberty 
throughout the world, we hereby affix our signatures to it ; 
pledging ourselves that, under the guidance and by the help of 
Almighty God, we will do all that in us lies, consistently with 
this Declaration of our principles, to overthrow the most execra- 
ble system of slavery, that has ever been witnessed upon earth — 
to deliver our land from its deadliest curse — to wipe out the foul- 
est stain which rests upon our national escutcheon — and to secure 
to the colored population of the United States all the rights and 
privileges which belong to them as men, and as Americans — 
come what may to our persons, our interests, or our reputations — 
whether we live to witness the triumph of liberty, justice, 
and humanity, or perish untimely as martyrs in this great, be- 
nevolent, and holy cause. 

Done in Philadelphia, this sixth day of December, A. D. 1833. 

Resolved, That the above Declaration be engrossed on a sheet of parch- 
ment, signed by all the members of the Convention, and extensively pub- 
lished. 

Adjourned at 5 o'clock, P. M. 

Friday, December 6th, 1833. Convention met agreably to ad- 
journment. After Prayer, the minutes of yesterday were read 
and approved. 

Resolved, That this Convention, acting under a sense of dependence upon 
Almighty God for the accomplishment of the object which they have assem- 
bled to promote, do affectionately and earnestly recommend to the Christian 
Church throughout the land to observe the last Monday evening of each 
month as a Concert of Prayer in* behalf of the enslaved, and of the people 
of color. 

Resolved, That the members of this Convention will exert themselves to 
procure from the several denominations to which they belong solemn and 
earnest addresses to the members of their several denominations, in the 
slave-holding States, to awaken them to a sense of their duty in view of the 
sufferings and degradation of our colored brethren. 

Resolved, That the cause of abolition eminently deserves the countenance 
and support of American women, inasmuch as one million of their colored 



17 

Bisters are pining in abject servitude — as their example and influence ope- 
rate measurably as laws to society — and as the exertions of the females of 
Great Britain have been signally instrumental in liberating eight hundred 
thousand slaves in the colonies. 

Resolved, That we hail the establishment of Ladies' Anti-Slavery Socie- 
ties as the harbinger of a brighter day, and that we feel great confidence in 
the efficacy of their exertions, and that those ladies who have promptly come 
forth in this great work are deserving the thanks of those who are ready to 
perish. 

Resolved, That all the Ladies of the land are respectfully and earnestly 
invited, by this Convention, to form Anti-Slavery Societies in every State, 
County, and Town in the Union ; and that it be recommended to them to 
publish tracts and addresses calculated to awaken a slumbering nation. 

Resolved, That this Convention recommend to the Executive Committee 
of the American Anti-Slavery Society the adoption of suitable measures to 
collect information from all parts of the commercial world, respecting the 
best means of obtaining supplies for the consumption of our citizens of the 
products of free labor in substitution for those of slaves. 

Resolved, That every citizen, and especially the benevolent and affluent 
of our land, be called upon to contribute of their means, as God has given 
them ability, to the treasury of the American Anti-Slavery Society ; and 
that it be earnestly recommended to the members of this Convention, and to 
all others with whom they may have influence, to devote a certain portion 
of their income, every mo. th, to the purposes of ameliorating the condition 
of the colored race. 

Resolved, That the members of this Convention exert themselves to urge 
forward, without delay, Petitions to Congress, for the Abolition of Slavery 
in the District of Columbia ; and that such Petitions be committed to Hon. 
William W. Ellsworth, of Connecticut, to be presented by him to Congress, 
during its present session. And that the President of this Convention be 
requested to address a letter to Mr. Ellsworth, and to such other members 
of Congress as he may deem expedient, beseeching them not only to pre- 
sent, but fearlessly to advocate the prayer of the petition. 

Resolved, That James Given, a colored minister of the gospel, recently 
from Liberia, and now in this city, be requested to present to this Convention 
such statements respecting that Colony as may be in his possession; and 
that such special intelligence from Africa, as is now possessed by any mem- 
ber of this Convention, be also presented ; the whole to be communicated to 
our fellow-citizens at large under the sanction of this body. 

Rev. James Given, a colored preacher, who has lately returned from 
Liberia, on request from the Convention, then made a statement of the condi- 

3 



18 

tionand prospects of emigrants, and replied at length to many interrogatories 
put to him by members of the Convention; which statements will be pub- 
lished, at an early period, in due form. 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention be presented to their fe- 
male friends, for the deep interest they have manifested in the cause of 
Anti-Slavery during the long and fatiguing session of the Convention. 

Resolved, That this Convention highly approve of the philanthropic efforts 
of Miss Prudence Crandall, of Canterbury, Conn., in her labors to instruct 
our colored sisters; and while we deeply sympathise with her in view of the 
persecutions she has endured in the prosecution of her pious purposes, we 
pledge ourselves to afford her our continued countenance and assistance. 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention those teachers of religion 
who fail to lift a warning voice against the oppressions that are done in 
this land, in the enslaving of one sixth part of its population, do not declare 
the whole counsel of God, and fail in one important branch of their appro- 
priate duties. 

Resolved, That the laws and customs which withhold the Bible from a 
large portion of the native population of this country, are inconsistent with 
the first principles of religious liberty, and that any plan of religious instruc- 
tion for the slaves, which pretends to be adequate, while withholding the 
Bible, is undeserving the confidence and patronage of the Christian public, 
and furnishes a dangerous precedent, tending to render insecure the religious 
liberties of the American people. . 

Resolved, That we view with approbation the resolution of the Pittsburgh 
Anti-Slavery Society to establish a Manual Labor Institution for the educa- 
tion of colored and white youth, and that we commend this project to the 
patronage of the friends of the colored population of this country. 

Resolved. That it be recommended to the Executive Committeeto assist 
James Loughhead, the agent of the above Institution, with their counsel. 

Resolved, That this Convention regard the annual Conventions of the Free 
people of color of the United States with decided approbation, as eminently 
calculated to advance their interests, and render them respected in the eyes 
of all their intelligent fellow-citizens. 

Resolved, That George Bourne, W. L. Garrison, and C. W. Denison, be 
a committee to prepare a synopsis of Wesley's " Thoughts on Slavery," and 
of the anti-slavery items in a note formerly existing in the Catechism of the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States, and of such other similar testi- 
mony as they can obtain, to be addressed to Methodists, Presbyterians, and 
all professed Christians in this country, and published under the sanction of 
this Convention. 

Resolved, That those literary institutions which have offered their privileges 



19 

and benefits to our colored brethren deserve the thanks and the patronage 
of the friends of the abolition of slavery throughout the country. 

Resolved, That the proceedings of this Convention be signed by the offi- 
cers thereof, and published in the papers friendly to our cause. 

Resolved, That L. Tappan, A. L. Cox, C. W. Denison, and W. Green, Jr. 
be a committee to superintend the publication of the records of our proceed- 
ings, and such other articles connected therewith, as they may think proper. 

An Address from the New-England Anti-Slavery Society to the 
friends of the colored race in the United States, soliciting funds 
to establish a Manual Labor School for colored youth,. was read : 
whereupon it was 

Resolved, That the same be referred to the Executive Committee. 

Resolved, That the fountains of knowledge, like those of salvation, should 
be opened to every creature, and that we regard those laws which prevent 
or restrict the education of the people of color, bond or free, as pre-emi- 
nently cruel, impious, and disgraceful to a Christian state or nation, and that 
we will seek their abolishment both in the free and slave States of this na- 
tion, if possible, more earnestly than corporeal slavery itself, inasmuch as 
ignorance enslaves the mind and tends to the ruin of the immortal soul. 

Resolved, That the Phoenix Association of the city of New- York, the 
various literary associations, both male and female, in the cities of Philadel- 
phia, New-York, and Boston, and of various other places, and the numerous 
Temperance and other associations among the colored people, for their im- 
provement, are highly creditable to them, and deserving of the highest ap- 
probation of this Convention- 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention be given to the President 
for the faithful, able and efficient manner in which he has discharged the 
duties of his office. 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention be. presented to the Secre- 
taries and Committee of Arrangements, who have officiated during the ses- 
sion of this body, and also tp our friends in the city of Philadelphia for the 
kind and hospitable reception they have given us. 

After an affectionate and solemn address to the Convention, by the Presi- 
dent, and prayers to Almighty God for His blessing upon the proceedings, 
the Convention adjourned sine die. 

Attest, 

BERIAH GREEN, President. 

Lewis Tappan, 1 Secretaries. 

John G. Whittier, ( 



20 

After the adjournment of the Convention, a meeting of the 
MANAGERS of the American Anti-Slavery Society was 
held at the Adelphi Hall, when the following persons were chosen 
the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE for the present year :— 

Arthur Tappan, Chairman. 

John Rankin, 

Joshua Leavitt, 

William Green, Jr., 

William Goodell, 

Lewis Tappan, 

Elizur Wright, Jr., 

Abraham L. Cox, and 

Isaac M. Dimond. 



0^ The Office of the American Anti-Slavery Society is 

at No. 130 Nassau-street, New- York. Communications to be 
addressed to Elizur Wright, Jr., Corresponding Secretary. 



APPENDIX 



Previous to the Convention, letters were received by the Com- 
mittee of invitation in New- York from the following gentlemen. 
Thomas Adams, Vassalboro, Me. ; S. P. Hines, Sandy Hill, 
N. Y. ; Nathaniel Swasey, Bath, Me. ; Wra. Chase, Providence, 
R. I. ; A. G. Tenney, of Bowdoin College, Me. ; Philemon R. 
Russell, West Boylston, Ms. ; James A. Smith, Durham, N. H. ; 
S. L. Pomroy, Bangor, Me. ; S. N. Sweet, Adams, N. Y. ; H. C. 
Howells, Zanesville, Ohio ; Samuel Crothers, Greenfield, Ohio ; 
Thirty-two students in Waterville College, Me. ; Henry Jones, 
Cabot, Vt. ; Josiah Clark, Roxbury, Ms. ; George Duffield, 
Carlisle, Pa. ; S. P. Dole, Middletown, Ct. ; Joshua V. Himes, 
Boston, Ms. ; Jeremiah Chaplin, Rowley, Ms. ; R. H. Rose, Sil- 
ver Lake, Pa. ; Wm. Jay, Bedford, N. Y. ; John M. S. Perry, 
Mendon, Ms. ; Theodore D. Weld, Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, 
Ohio ; Orestes K. Hawley, Austinburgh, Ohio ; N. P. Rogers, 
and George W. Ward, Plymouth, Ms. ; C. P. Grosvenor, Salem, 
Ms. ; Kiah Bayley, Hardwick, Vt. These letters all express the 
most cordial approbation of the doctrine of immediate emancipa- 
tion, and with one exception are in favor of the immediate forma- 
tion of a 'National Society. The limits of this pamphlet will 
permit the insertion of but a sample of these interesting letters — 
much that is valuable must necessarily be omitted, 

No. 1. 

Letter from, Samtiel Crothers. 

Greenfield, Nov. 22, 1833. 
Dear Sir, — I rejoice to hear of the movement among the friends of 
immediate emancipation for forming a National Anti-Slavery Society. I 
should consider it an honor and a privilege to be present as a member of 
the proposed Convention in Philadelphia. But the distance, and expense of 
the journey, and inclemency of the season, forbid it. I cordially bid you 

4 



22 

God speed. I no more doubt that the friends of immediate emancipation will 
ultimately triumph, than I doubt that there is a God who has pledged his 
faithfulness for the execution of judgment for them that are oppressed. The 
disgraceful scenes which have been witnessed lately in some parts of the 
Union, indicate alarm among the enemies of universal liberty. The Devil 
seldom comes down in such great wrath, except when he knows that his 
time is short. 

The doctrine of gradual emancipation is based on the principle of gra- 
dual repentance ; and I cannot conceive how any man of sound theology and 
pure morals can persuade himself to preach so frightful a heresy. It re- 
quires great ignorance of human nature to believe that when such a princi- 
ple becomes popular, the community will apply it to nothing but slave hold- 
ing. Praying that the Lord may preside over the deliberations of the Con- 
vention, and give wisdom and zeal, prudence and firmness, I remain, very 
respectfully, 

Your friend and fellow-laborer, 

SAMUEL CROTHERS, 
Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Greenfield, Ohio. 



No. 2. 



Extract of a letter from George JDuftield, 

(Pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, Pa.) 

Carlisle, Nov. 16, 1833. 
E. Wright, Jun. 

Dear Sir, — Severe and protracted indisposition has prevented me from 
addressing you ere this, in compliance with the request contained in a letter 
from several gentlemen of your city. It would afford me great pleasure, to 
meet with the philanthropic and patriotic citizens of this great republic who 
will assemble in Philadelphia on the 4th proximo ; but I am not yet able to 
leave my house, and will be confined and unable to preach during the com- 
ing winter. It is my earnest desire that the subject of Slavery may never 
cease to be agitated, and the dreadful guilt of those who hold their fellow- 
beings in involuntary servitude asserted, and pressed on their consciences, 
till this our great national sin shall be repented of, and cease to be perpe- 
trated. I believe that it is perfectly lawful and expedient to adopt such mea- 
sures as may be calculated to awaken public attention, and to secure such a 
change in the Constitution of the United States, by the process prescribed 
in that instrument itself, as will empower the government to commence the 
work of emancipation. The very existence, as well as the welfare, of our 
government depend upon the exercise and display of justice, and the fear of 
God in this matter. It is not a question of mere local concernment, which 
the 6lave-holding States have the exclusive right of agitating and discussing. 



23 

We are involved with them, and suffer seriously from the evils allowed by 
them to exist among them. There is a conflagration already commenced, 
which, although it threatens immediate destruction only to them, does never- 
theless jeopard our security, and requires the efforts of every benevolent in- 
dividual to arrest, and prevent from spreading. The movements of the Anti- 
Slavery part of the commnnity, will, I trust, be successful, and soon be re- 
garded in another light than as the wild vagaries of fanatics. Truth is Om- 
nipotent, and the calm, firm, consistent, forgiving, persevering assertion of 
the truth, will not fail to correct the judgments of men pronounced under 
the influence of prejudice and passion. Every great and salutary reforma- 
tion or advancement in science and philosophy, has in the first instance been 
opposed by priests and politicians alike, whose interests were jeoparded by 
the change. It is no new thing in the history of the world, to find the infidel 
community and the high and titled ecclesiastics of the day unite, in attempt- 
ing to brand as fanatics, the men who have groaned over the sins of the 
times, and zealously asserted the truth and commands of God in opposition 
to the vain philosophy of the former and the calculating selfish prudence of 
the latter. As long as the friends of universal emancipation arm themselves 
with truth, and evince the spirit of Christ, they have no reason to doubt their 
ultimate success. The cause demands the prayers, the zeal, and the untir- 
ing exertions of every Christian patriot and philanthropist. Let it rest on its 
own immutable basis of truth and right, and it will triumph. 



No. 3. 

Letter from Theodore I>. Weld. 

Lane Seminary, 
Walnut Hills, Ohio, Nov. 22, 1833. 
Messrs. Arthur Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, 

and Elizur Wright, Jun. 
Dear Brethren, — I have received your Circular, inviting me to aid in the 
formation of a National Anti-Slavery Society, as a member of the Conven- 
tion which is soon to assemble in Philadelphia. 

My whole heart is with you. But a physical impossibility prevents my per- 
sonal attendance. Nothing less could, in my view, absolve me from the duty. 
You request me, if unable to attend, to transmit to you an expression of 
my views upon the general subject. 

I say then : God has committed to every moral agent the privilege, the 
right and the responsibility of personal ownership. This is God's plan. Sla- 
very annihilates it, and surrenders to avarice, passion and lust, all that makes 
life a blessing. It crushes the body, tramples into the dust the upward ten- 
dencies of intellect, breaks the heart and kills the soul. 

Therefore, I am deliberately, earnestly, solemnly, with my whole heart 



24 

and soul and mind and strength, for the immediate, universal, and total abo- 
lition of slavery. 

My most respectful salutations and heartiest God-speed to the Convention. 

Most affectionately yours, 

THEODORE D. WELD. 



No. 4. 

Extract of a letter from Philemon R. Russell. 

(Pastor of a Congregational Church in West Boylston, Mass.) 

We are emphatically a slave-holding nation ; and I am fully persuaded, 
that a moral, national institution, around which all good men in our country 
may rally, and apply the only saving remedy to a degenerate community, 
should be immediately organized. The time has now arrived when the 
Christian philanthropists of this slave-holding nation, should rise above all 
sectional, sectarian, and political differences, and consolidate all their moral 
powers, to humanize public sentiment, and deliver the vassal from the mur- 
derous bondage of moral, intellectual, and physical slavery. 

When laws are simultaneously enacted in the Southern and Northern 
States to degrade the blacks " to the condition of brutes," that they may 
be abused with a brutal " apathy;" when imprisonment and fines are inflicted 
upon the philanthrophy of educating either slaves or free people of color ; 
when grave judges arrive at the serious conclusion that native freemen are 
not citizens; when a united and powerful aristocracy, extending from one 
end of the continent to the other, is treading the powerless poor under its 
haughty feet, and employing its numerous mercenaries to banish the victims 
of " the craft" to a barbarous land — when such atrocities exist in every 
part of this great republic, it is time, high time, that the united voice of 
American philanthrophy should be raised and sounded in the persuasive, and 
eloquent tones of justice and humanity, through the heavy ears of a guilty 
nation. 



No. 5. 
Extract of a Letter from JET. C. Howells, 

(Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, in Zanesville, Ohio.) 

I have entered the field, and pray God, that I may never quit it, but 
with death, or victory. Opposition and slander are the consequences, but 
through the mercy "none of these things move me." 

I do not wonder to find that slave holders are constantly awake to guard, 



25 

with all 'their energy, the Citadel of Babylon ; but to find that Christians 
keep the out posts, and the professed ministers of the God of love, mount 
the ramparts, act the double part, by crying, " Peace, peace," to them that 
are within, pampered by human woes, also to give the first alarm, and 
make the first resistance, to those who come in the name of Jehovah, with 
the hammer of the Lord, to " break every yoke," this, surely this, may 
well make angels weep ! Crime and cowardice are always connected. 
Go on, my revered brethren, fearlessly ; and tyrants will, trembling, quit the 
field ; and those professors also who have taken part with them, will either, 
like Judas, prove traitors indeed ; or, like Peter, return and weep bitterly. 
Courage, my brethren, the Captain of Salvation leads on to certain though 
bloodless conquest. " Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet 
among the nations, prepare the nations against Babylon." Jer. li. 27. The 
settled conviction of my mind is that this course is paramount to every 
other, save and except the preaching of the precious Gospel. 
Your brother and servant in the cause of Jesus, 

H. C. HOWELLS. 



Wo. 6. 



Extract of a Z,etter from C. JP» Crrosvcnor, 

(Pastor of a Baptist Church in Salem, Ms.) 

I cannot doubt that a National Society established on right principles may 
accomplish an amount of good capable of being estimated by no man now 
living, and only by the enlightened generation, both white and colored, who 
shall be living, when — (my heart exults in the anticipation) — when the word 
slave shall have become obsolete in that world, where the glorious Son of God 
bowed down with heavenly meekness to the scourge of his persecutors, and 
freely gave himself to die by their hands, that every yoke, whether religious or 
moral or political, every unjust and cruel yoke might be broken off from the 
necks of men. The gospel of Jesus Christ imperatively demands that this be 
done. If I were addressing an auditory on this thrilling and mighty subject, I 
might entrench myself behind the first seventeen verses of the second chapter of 
James, and find heavy ordnance in the first four verses of his fifth chapter; which 
passages, I will venture to suggest, might be read with a happy effect in the 
proposed Convention.* The gospel is not chargeable with the absurdity of both 
palliating the guilt of slavery and unequivocally condemning the cruel practice, 
as some argue. My own views of slavery have undergone no change for twenty 
years, unless an increased abhorrence of it may be called a change. While I was 
Pastor of a church in South Carolina, my knowledge of American slavery was 
increased ; but its dark features (I know no other) were rendered no less dark 
and disgusting by my near inspection of them. 

If it is at all needful to take any notice of the Am. Col. Society, I will say 
that, through culpable inattention, I remained strangely ignorant of it, in respect 
to both its ultimate bearings on slavery and its boasted power of removing the 
♦This very pertinent suggestion was complied with. — Eds, 



26 

colored people from the country, until after I had appeared as its advocate on 
July 4, 1831, in a public Address in this town. On a review of that Address, I 
perceived that my own argument was unsound. This discovery turned my 
thoughts with great seriousness to an enquiry into its real claims on my confi- 
dence and support, and the result was my decided conviction of its utter power- 
lessness to accomplish the proposed object. It is demonstrable that, in a war 
with Great Britain, it would be as wise to rely on a single schooner to resist effect- 
ually her entire navy, as it is to rely on any project for the transportation of 2 1-2 
millions of coloured people, with their annual increase of 60,000 ; it being necessa- 
ry, in order to effect this object in 100 years, to transport 100,000 every year. At 
an expense of 60 dollars a head, which is less than it has cost hitherto, the an- 
nual expenditure would be six millions of dollars, and the whole expense would 
be 600 millions of dollars. The Colonization Society have spent 17 years in 
transporting less than 4,000. How soon will they do the work at this rate, or 
at 100 times this rate? I find that this question always startles a Colonization- 
ist ; and I believe it would, if duly considered, disband the Society to-day, unless 
the members have in view one of the two following objects. No one member can 
have both objects in view. 1. The doing some good to Africa. 2. The strength- 
ening of the chains of the slave. I believe that some have one and some the 
other object in view; but that any intelligent citizen of the United States can 
calculate the amount of work to be done, and hope to expatriate the whole co- 
lored population of the land, I cannot believe. 

I would, therefore, respectfully submit to the Convention, whether the utter 
impracticability of entire transportation is not a conclusive argument against all 
reliance on the Colonization Society to remove the evil under which the nation 
groans, and which threatens permanently to mar her peace and to stain her 
glory, if it does not point the fatal dagger to her heart. God forbid, that any 
Society be formed which shall not propose to itself both the promotion of His 
glory and the good of all our fellow-citizens, both white and colored. 

Universal, simultaneous, immediate emancipation would enrich the Slave 
States and secure their peace. In support of this proposition I do not rely en- 
tirely on the truth that it is always for the interest of every man to do right; 
but the fact that abolition has always been safe hitherto, and the contrast of 
the steadily growing prosperity and strength of the Free States with the waning 
condition of the Slave States fully sustain me. 

I am strongly inclined to think that it is enough for the proposed Society to 
show, what is by no means difficult, the guilt of holding our fellow-men in slave- 
ry; the participation in this guilt of all the States so long as they connive at the 
legalization of slavery by the common Constitution of the country ; and the im- 
practicability of transportation ; together with the practicability, the safety and 
the benefits of emancipation ; leaving the Colonization Society responsible to 
God and the country for any sinister motives by which any of its members are 
governed. 

I would as soon attempt to lade out the ocean with the pen I write with, as 
enter on the work of transportation as a hopeful cure of this evil. 

Though a citizen of a free State, I should be a partaker in the guilt, if I did 
not bear my testimony against this national sin ; and I should deserve to be my- 
self a slave, if I did not abhor the holding of any of my fellow men in slavery. 

Any thing like a forcible removal of the free colored citizens is an abomina- 
tion, and will directly tend to the ultimate insurrection of both the slaves and the 
free. 



27 

No. 7. 

Extract of a letter from, John Jfl, S. Perry, 

(Pastor of the Evangelical Cong. Church, Mendon, Mass.) 

I bless God, that there are those rising up, who dare to call slavery a 
sin ; and to do it too, in the face of a corrupt public sentiment, which, at the 
North as well as the South, is crushing the colored man below the level 
of a man ; — a public sentiment which is shutting many of this much injured 
people, not merely out of the pale of society, but out of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. 

I bless God, that the number of those is increasing who dare to preach 
immediate repentance for this sin, whether men will hear or whether they 
will forbear. Too long have we satisfied our consciences by saying, that 
slavery is an evil. True it is an evil, as the poor slave, goaded on to his daily 
task, can testify in tears and blood. But that is not all. Slavery is a sin : and a 
sin of the deepest die. 

*********** * 

Again Colonization principles cannot accomplish the abolition of slavery, 
except it be in the way of compulsory expatriation. For the colored man 
knows no country but the land of his birth. Africa is not his home. He is 
as truly a stranger there as the white man. He is a stranger to its climate, 
its soil, its productions, its diseases, its inhabitants. If he goes there, it is 
by virtual compulsion. True, there may be the appearance of free will and 
consent ; but they are the free will and consent of one, who prefers banish- 
ment in an unknown land, to slavery, oppression, and death, in his own. It 
is death to go ; it is worse than death to stay. Such a method of abolition 
may be consonant with the wicked hatred of the black, which disgraces our 
land ; but not with the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. 



No. 8. 

Extract of a letter from S. P. Mines, Saiidy-Hill, IV. l r . 

The formation of such a Society as is contemplated, is very desirable. 
The evils of Slavery instead of diminishing, have greatly increased— and 
the expectations of many who have now passed to their accounts, that the 
slave-system would be gradually overcome, have ended in disappointment. 
The fetters of the slave have been rivetted more securely, as their number 
increased ; and the free colored citizens have been compelled to share in 
the oppression, by onerous, anti-christian, and anti-republican laws. The le- 
gislators from the free States, like the strong man of old, seem to have wed- 
ded a shrew— and by stratagems, entreaties and reproaches, they have been 
robbed of their strength and obscured in their vision. The veriest mad-cap 



28 

in politics, from the slave-holding district, has only to say, "If the union be 
put into one scale, and slavery in the other — let union kick the beam ;" and he 
who aforetime was wont to speak with boldness and act with energy, be- 
comes a mere " dough-face" — quails before the whip of the slave-driver — for- 
gets the principles of our declaration of independence, tramples on the rights 
of one-sixth of our native citizens, breaks the most palpable doctrine of the 
sacred volume, and, led by an intellectual child, " makes sport" for the uncir- 
cumcised task master. 



No. 9. 



Extract of a letter from Orestes K.. Hawley, 

(A Physician, Austinburgh, Ohio.) 

The cause is rapidly gaining ground in this section of country, and the 
more the people here examine the subject, the more they enlist heart and 
hand in the cause of immediate emancipation. 

Although I cannot be present at the formation of the National Society, I 
will pay Twenty Dollars as a premium for the best written Tract of not less 
than fifty pages, showing the superior advantages of Free labor over Slave 
labor, to individuals and the community in general in the slave-holding States ; 
provided One Hundred Dollars be pledged for the above purpose by the first 
of February next, and the Tract be forwarded to Elizur Wright, Jun. by 
the first of May next, under seal, with the author's name. Arthur Tappan, 
Joshua Leavitt, and Gardner Spring to be a committee to judge of the me- 
rits ; or those men to appoint a committee, to consist of two Abolitionists 
and one Colonizationist; or, if thought preferable, three Abolitionists and 
two Colonizationists. My object in calling in Colonizationists is to get them 
to examine the subject. 

Note. Since this pamphlet has been in type the publishing Committee have 
been informed that James T. Dickinson, of Norwich, Ct. declines to act as an 
officer of the Am. Anti- Slavery Society. The mistake in this case is unac- 
countable to the Committee, for the rule was constantly urged upon the mem- 
bers of the Convention ; to nominate none whom they did not know would wil- 
lingly serve. 



